How Melt Exchange works
Six steps from your scrap to a payment from the buyer. You pay nothing, and you are never obliged to sell.
- 1. Describe your lotPick the metal and type, enter the weight, and add three photos with a code written on paper beside the material. Add your email. You immediately see the range buyers typically offer. We list lots worth about $500 or more.
- 2. Confirm your emailWe send you a link. Your lot opens for bidding when you click it, and the 24 hours start at that moment. A lot that is not confirmed within 48 hours is removed.
- 3. Approved buyers bid for 24 hoursRefiners and dealers that we have approved see the materials, weights, any photos, and a short summary of your history on the site. They do not see your name or your email address.
- 4. Bidding closesThe highest bid wins. Once the buyer's fee is charged, we email you a link to a private thread with the winning buyer. Your email address is not shared at this point, and no other buyer ever receives it. If nobody bids, the lot simply closes.
- 5. Ship, test, and agree a final priceYou mail the lot by USPS Registered Mail from a post office counter, photograph the sealed package on a scale first, and enter the registered number on the site. The buyer reimburses your postage and insurance. A return receipt is required at $2,000 or more. The winning bid is subject to testing of what the buyer receives. Testing starts when the package is delivered. The buyer either accepts the winning bid in one tap or proposes a lower price with a written test report. You accept it, decline it, or ask for an independent retest. If you decline, the buyer returns the material to you, insured, at the buyer's expense. If you accept, we send each of you the other's email address, and the buyer pays you by a traceable method within five business days.
- 6. Tell us how it endedA link in your email takes about ten seconds: you report whether the sale was completed and at what price. It costs you nothing, and it keeps buyers honest.
What Melt Exchange does not do. We never hold your metal or your money, we are not a party to the sale, and we do not test, appraise, insure, or ship anything. We run the bidding, host the private thread, and introduce you to the winning buyer once you accept a price.
Why we ask for what we ask
- An email confirmation shows that a real person controls the address, and it keeps fake lots away from buyers.
- Three photos with a code on every lot show the pictures were taken for this listing. Each code works once and expires after 24 hours.
- A short history summary, such as "New seller" or "2 completed deals," lets buyers bid with more confidence. It is not a verification of you.